Wednesday, May 03, 2006

SUBZERO´s favorite comic podcasts

Today my topic is comicpod-casts. There are a lot of them on the web and since I down-loaded the newest episodes today I wanted to write about the sites I normally go to.

The first one on my list is a relative new one and it is the first german comic podcast which is of course in german. There are three episodes available at the moment. The brain behind this podcast is Michael Bloch who is the owner of the comicshop ComicCorner at the main station of Munich under the escalator. I did my military service in Munich and there were three places I would go to buy american comics. Number one was Jürgens Comicshop which was the biggest comic shop I had seen at that time. Whenever we were off duty I would be knee deep in comics searching for hidden treasures till they threw me out - normally because they were 20 minutes past the closing time. The second one was the foreign press section of the newsstand in the main station where they also had american comics but mostly older ones. For example if I was at Jürgens Comicshop they would have the newest issue of FLASH maybe issue 21. And at the newsstand they would have older issues like FLASH 16 and 17. Now if I needed the issues between 17 and 21 I would go to the third comic shop which was a little shop under the escalator. So maybe I have been to the place where the ComicCorner is now.

But I was speaking abut the podcast. The name is Die Comic Kolumne it is entirely in german and the issues so far have been no longer then 30 minutes. In every episode three comics are reviewed : one a classic comic, the second is a brandnew one and the third is a manga. In the second episode ( the first one is just a teaser and only a few minutes short ) the reviewed comics are V wie Vendetta, Die Wellenläufer and Die tollkühnen Abenteuer der Ducks auf hoher See. Episode three is about Sillage, Die Purpurnen and Tränen Warcraft 2 - The Sunwell Trilogy. Especially important is for me that things like the printing quality or the coloring are mentioned. What is strange is that the last episode is from March and I couldn´t find any new podcasts since then.

Edit : the podcast has ceased to exist

Wow, that was longer than I expected. Just wanted to do a short mention but when I start on a rant........Okay. The next one I normally go to is Los ComicGeekos a comicpodcast produced in El Salvador for REAL aficionados de comics. It is in spanish so like the first one you should know the language. I like this podcast because it´s always funny although I had to learn the lingo first. In the beginnig I didn´t know what cheras or paquines are. The crew of the comic geekos consists of Ticoman, Britoman, Julius, Rick Escamia, el Sensei via skype ( who is like Charlie of Charlie´s Angels who only participates through an electronic device ) and the lovely Candy Candy ( que si....es buena...persona ). They have various sections like e-mails, a versus of comic charakters, today in the history of comics, comic news or special reviews of comics or certain creators or animes. You can put yourself in their frapper map of world domination and vote for them on podcast alley. Voten, cabrones ! Normally the episodes are one hour long but in special cases they can be a little longer to give enough time to the various subjects. The newest episodes I have seen are about MAZINGER Z the anime everybody knows who grew up in a spanish speaking country. Maybe you already heard of them but if not here´s the link

Next on my list is ComicGeekSpeak which is probably the best known podcast about comics. It`s in englisch and it is currently at episode 132 but it also has the extra episodes of SECOND CHANCE where they develop their own superhero, the BOOK OF THE MONTH episodes which are indepth reviews ( which means they spoiler the hell out of it ) of comic milestones like ANIMAL MAN, TOMB OF DRACULA or THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL and much more. The crew of Comic Geek Speak ( who are like the Bizarro version of los comic geekos or vice versa ) are Brian Deemer, Peter Rios, Jamie D, Shane Kelley, Kevin Moyer and Matt. I hope I got the names right because I could only get the first names from the site and had to find out the last names by listening to the episodes. I guess watching all the episodes of CASE CLOSED did pay off. They are podcasting for more then a year now ( I think ) and have already more than 150 episodes which can be up to one hour and a half. On the normal episodes which are mostly spoiler free there are different sections like reading the e-mails or " stump the rios " where basically listeners try to stump Peter Rios the human comic encyclopeidia with a three part question. But I shouldn´t write to much about it just go to their site and listen to the episodes where they have such illustrous guests as MarvWolfman, Gene Colan, Dan Slott or even Stan Lee himself. You can find them at ComicGeekSpeak

When I have uploaded all new episodes of there I go to fanboy radio. This is also a very exciting podcast with lots of reviews and interviews and the always funny " sub or flub " section. The hosts are Scott Hinze and Oliver Tull with additionla contributions by Britta Natwig. Fanboy Radio (FbR) is a radio talk show about the comic book industry, its art, creators, and fans. Each week, two hours of comics commentary are highlighted by insider interviews with top creators, news, and live calls from listeners like you. Some of the top names in comics have stopped by the show to talk about their crafts, give their opinions, and offer exclusive news items to FbR listeners. Artists, writers, colorists, letterers, Company Execs, etc, have all found their way onto FbR and it's friendly environment. The world of Indie comics and creators, as well as animation, TV, and film, are also well represented in the FbR show archives. Consistently breaking, celebrating, and poking fun at the geeky FANBOY stereotype is a staple of the show. From the most die hard fan to the newest of the new...all are welcome. Casual... loose... smart... fun... this is not your father's comic talk show! Fanboy Radio broadcasts live from the KTCU studios in Fort Worth, Texas. Fanboy Radio is heard twice a week:Sundays at 6:00pm CST, broadcast LIVE from the Fanboy Studios. During this show, they usually feature Q&A sessions with some of the most important and influential personalities in our field...and Wednesdays at 1:00pm CST, a pre-recorded episode (not a re-run) is broadcast that focuses on the lesser know aspects of the hobby. They have interviews with Keith Giffen, Robert Kirkman and Joe Quesada on their website

Comicology is a podcast produced by Neil Gorman which focuses more on independet comics. There are of course many reviews about mainstream comics but there is a wide range of indie comics you can hear about on this show. Not that there are no indie comics on the other shows I mentioned. But you probably already know the site at Comicology

Another comic podcast is MEANWHILE by T Campbell and David Belmore and the show is basically the two talking about anything and everything related to comics. Recent topics have included V For Vendetta, the sexual harrassment suit that's got the comics community up in arms, and comics encyclopedias. T Campbell is not the former artist of Danger Girls who has changed his name and appearance to take on the idendity of an unsuspecting radio host. And here is a link to the main page

I have to admit I haven´t listened to the last episodes of Comic News Insider but only because they are way ahead of what I read. So I have to wait two or three months till I can listen to the next show without fear of spoilers. The site is at

I read comics is a comicpodcast with a different viewpoint or as it says on the website : Comic talk from a real live girl. Comic books, graphic novels, animation – all things comic and cartoony, with your host Lene Taylor. Think of it as the New York Review of Comics. For me it´s sometimes weird to listen to a podcast that while complaining about how women are drawn ( or how her boobs are drawn ) goes on for minutes telling me how wonderful japanese gay hardcore mangas are. That´s the part I usually fast forward but to each his own. So if you don´t know the show it´s worth listening to and you can get the episodes here

Now there are two more shows I have to mention. The first one is NOT a podcast but you can listen to it on the web. The ComicZone is a radio show at World Talk Radio with a wide array of interview guests or better said the who is who of comics. The host is Vincent Zurzulo and they have a new show on their site every week. This is the first comic radio show I listened to and I´m a big fan ( I even have borrowed their motto on a few occasions : It´s all about peace, love and comic books ! ) you can find all the shows on the archive page

The last one is not a comic podcast either. It´s Red Jazz Radio a podcast about jazz music. You can find the link to their website in my link section and normally I listen to the episodes while surfing or writing things like this webblog. They feature a lot of music by the artists themselves and they always tell you where to get the music because not all of it is available in stores. Because the main focus is the music you can fully enjoy the songs without somebody talking over them. I´m not a jazz afficionado but I know what I like and the mix of the show hosted by Cory Scribner ( I hope I got the name right ) seems to hit the nail so far.

And that´s all for today. The post has gotten longer than I thought so I didn´t get to post some interesting links I found while searching for podcasts. They will be the topic of the next post if I don´t get the last comics I ordered tomorrow. I´m going to proof read the post tomorrow since I´m really tired now and the computer starts to behave strangely. I hope I can get three and a half hours of sleep before I have to go to the job agency tomorrow.

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About Me

Working stiff at day, secret crimefighting blogger at night I was born into a world I never made. I always loved comics and even wrote and drew some. Together with my brother who is much more interested in making comics we even self-published a comic called POWER FREAKS that is infamous in Germany. Due to financial troubles and artistic differences sadly there has been only one issue so far. Being more of a reader than a collector of comics I always read the foreign versions of the american comics what led me to start this little blog. If you have any comment ( or want to send me some review copies ) please drop me a line in the comment section or send me an e - mail.